1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates generally to packaging; and, more particularly, to improved packaging arrangements for, and methods of packaging, a wide range of consumer products utilizing "blister packaging" techniques wherein the packaged products are clearly visible to the consumer, yet wherein: i) the quantity of non-biodegradable plastic materials used in the packaging system is minimized; ii) the resulting packages are characterized by their stability and integrity; iii) the resulting packages permit of application of considerably more advertising, promotional materials and other informative materials of value to both the retailer and the consumer than is presently possible with conventional packages of essentially the same dimensions; iv) the resulting packages are capable of on-edge stand-alone display or display on racks, pegboards and the like; and v), the resulting packages generally cost less than one-half (1/2) the cost of conventional comparably sized "clam shell" packages.
2. Prior Art
Prior to the advent of the present invention, a wide variety of packaging arrangements have been employed for virtually an infinite number of diverse consumer products. Typically, "blister packaging" technology commonly employs: i) a sheet of cardboard or similar relatively stiff backing material capable of having imprinted thereon advertising, other promotional materials and product information of value to the retailer and/or the consumer; and ii), a preformed, clear plastic blister pack cover having one or more pockets or compartments formed therein for containing and visually displaying the packaged product(s) and which can be heat bonded to the stiff backing sheet in the plane thereof.
Unfortunately, however, such packaging arrangements, while widely used today in the field of packaging for consumer products, have suffered from a number of disadvantages. For example, blister packages generally tend to be unstable and weak due to the fact that the card or other backing sheet lies in a single plane; and, the relatively thin plastic blister pack cover, which provides little structural rigidity, is sealed to the backing sheet in that single plane. Additionally, the backing sheet is exposed on at least one side, and often on portions of the opposite side, thereby increasing the danger of degradation to both the graphic and structural characteristics of the backing sheet. Moreover, any package of a given size--for example, a package eight inches (8") wide by twelve and one-half inches (121/2") in height--has limited space available on the front and the back of the backing sheet for purposes of display of advertising material, promotional materials and/or product information. For example, in the exemplary case of a package eight inches (8") by twelve and one-half inches (121/2"), only two hundred (200) square inches are available for such purposes.
Another type of conventional. packaging arrangement that has heretofore been, and is presently being, used is termed a "clam shell" package. Such packages commonly employ a preshaped, thin, clear plastic blister pack cover having two (2) complementally shaped portions coupled together by a "living hinge" and adapted to be folded about that hinge so as to enclose the product(s) to be packaged in one or more pockets or compartments between the two (2) facing plastic blister pack cover portions which are held together by ultrasonic bonding of the edges of the folded over cover portions together. Typically, a printed card is also inserted within the package to display graphic information; but, such card serves no structural purpose. Such an arrangement provides only a highly limited surface area suitable for application of promotional materials, advertising and product information on the printed card; and, of even more importance, it serves to effectively double the amount of non-biodegradable material used in each package producing undesirable environmental problems when attempting to dispose of used package materials. Moreover, clam shell packages tend to be unstable, bulky, labor-intensive and are generally more than double the cost of conventional blister packages.